1 You 425
In
Order NO 21
4/x
together with report-
by the. Attorney General
Subjeck to legal Obsons
? Sanction 27
Shul genere
4.12.31
2
In my opinion, the non-disallowance of this
Ordinance should be signified in the usual manner. At
the same time, I think the despatch should inform the
Governor that the Secretary of State has assumed that
it was not the intention of the amending Ordinance to
bring the law with regard to the evidence and statement
at a preliminary investigation of an accused person
into line with section 12 of the Criminal Jurisdiction
Act, 1925 (15 and 16 Geo.5, ch.86). Subsection (2)
of this section provides for the notification of the
rights of such a person with regard to the calling of
witnesses and the giving of evidence himself. This
notification is immediately followed by the words which
appear in inverted commas in section 73(1) of the
Hong Kong Ordinance No.3 of 1890. Subsection (5) of
section 12 of the English Statute provides that
immediately after complying with the requirements of
this section relating to the statement of the accused,
and whether the accused has or has not made a statement,
the examining Justices shall ask the accused whether
he desires to give evidence on his own behalf, and whether he desires to call witnesses; thus, by English law, the statement of an accused person precedes his
giving of evidence.
According to the Hong kong
Ordinance as amended, the evidence of an accused person
is given before he is allowed to make
statement.
Moreover